Marathon Training Structure

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your training cycle should develop these four systems

- aerobic conditioning

- aerobic capacity (Vo2Max)

- anaerobic conditioning (threshold)

- anaerobic capacity (speed/reps)

here's a good 8-day cycle to develop these systems with adequate recovery:

Day 1 - Long run

Day 2 - Easy run

Day 3 - Long intervals

Day 4 - Easy run

Day 5 - Threshold run

Day 6 - Easy run

Day 7 - Short intervals

Day 8 - Easy run

Do you have examples of:

Long Intervals and Short Intervals.

I have heard that short Intervals are not importants in Marathon Training ?

Where can fin ad good guide to know the training paces acordance at my level ?

Thanks

contact Clint Verran or Jackie Rzepecki at runguru.com. They can help you out.

keep it simple...go with a 7 day program. Here is what I use:

M- easy or off

T- AM: 5 easy PM: 7 easy

W- PM: Interval, Tempo, Fartlek or Hill Workout, PM: 5 easy

TH- AM: Medium long run, 12-16 miles

F- PM: 6-8 easy

S- AM: Interval, Tempo, Fartlek or Hill Workout, PM: 6 easy

S- AM long run 20-25 miles

You can easily tweak the distances to make this work for anything from 60-100+ mpw, but the basic layout is pretty effective and gives you room to incorporate everything you need for your specific marathon.

Search 10 days cycle, think that could be better

The most important thing to remember about marathon training is that the goal is to become aerobically fit and extremely strong. To do that you will need to run a lot of miles, long runs with some quality, long intervals w/ short recovery, and plenty of recovery time in between. Shorter intervals, track work, VO2 work, etc. is going to do little or nothing to improve you marathon ability. Some examples of typical marathon workouts are below.

These workouts are from Renato Canova(sp?)...

Aerobic Power Workouts (one per week):

1) 10 x 800 w 1:30 jog @ 110-112% of MP

2) 6 x 1 mile w 2 min jog @ 108-109% of MP

3) 4 x 2 mile w 3 min jog @ 105-106% of MP

4) 3 x 3 mile w 4 min jog @ 103-104% of MP

5) 2 x 5 mile w 5 min jog @ 101-102% of MP

6) 6 mile continuous run @ 104-105% of MP

7) 8 mile progression run @ 100-106% of MP

Aerobic Endurance Workouts (one per week):

1) 18-22 miles steady run @ 90-95% of MP

2) 24-26 miles easy run @ 80-85% of MP

3) 18-22 miles progression run @ 85-100% of MP

4) 12-15 miles simulation run @ 100% of MP

5) 20 miles - last 5-10 miles @ 100% of MP

6) 20 miles incorporating 10 x 800 @ 103% of MP w 800 jog

7) 6-7 miles @ 85% + 6-7 miles @ 100% of MP (workout done AM and PM)

Remaining runs each week are done at an easy 80-85% of MP.

A 10 day cycle is a little difficult to use for most people because of work, family, etc. A 7 day cycle is simple and effective. Here is a basic outline that I use...

M- 1:15 total in 2 runs

T- 1:30 total drills and strides

W- 2:00 including an aerobic power workout

TH- 1:15 total in 2 runs

F- 1:30 total drills and strides

SA- 1:30 total including very light speedwork w/ full rec.

SU- 2:30-3:00 total including an aerobic endurance workout.

The above will give you a little over 90 mpw. That can be adjusted to run less or more milage.

If you have questions about a detailed marathon program including, total prep time, how to lay out the workouts, races, drills, core work, etc., let me know.

26.2 Training,

Thank you for you answer....Do you would help me with 9 or 10 days schedule ? Understand you comment about time but I have time to run all days, any time problem at the present

Thanks again

What type of drills do you recommend?

Also....Is there a prefered breakdown of the 1:15 runs? (ie. 50%-50%, 60%-40%, etc.)

Here is a very basic 10 day cycle using the same marathon training principles...

Day 1- Recovery run

Day 2- Recovery run

Day 3- Easy run including drills and strides

Day 4- "Marathon speedwork"

Day 5- Recovery/easy run

Day 6- Easy run including drills and strides

Day 7- Aerobic Power Workout(2:00 total, alternate between day 6 or 7)

Day 8- Recovery run

Day 9- Recovery/easy run including drills and strides

Day 10-Aerobic Endurance Workout(2:30-3:00)

Here are some ideas/explantations to the basic 10 day cycle...

Day 1 and 2, recovery from day 10 is the number one priority. By day 3 you should be feeling pretty good. Your easy pace will probably be a little quicker and you should incorporate drills and strides to prepare for day 4. Day 4 "marathon speedwork" is a little different than regular speedwork. The workout volume would total 3-5K. The longest effort would be around 600m. The pace would be at a 3-5K effort and have full recovery. A workout example might be 2-3 x 400m, 600m, 400m, 200m w/ full recovery. Short and quick enough to get your legs moving, but not so long or fast that you finish the workout tired or risk injury. I guess you could say it is aerobic speedwork. The aerobic power workout you can alternate between day 6 and 7 depending on how you are feeling. The rest of the plan is similar to the 7 day cycle. The day before a workout do drills and strides as well as the day of the workout. The other days it is not necessary.

There is a lot more to developing a good plan than this but this is a good starting point. Remember, especially with marathon training you have to recovery before running another big workout. Hope this helps.

There was a video on the Letsrun homepage that has pretty much all the standard running drills and flexibility exercises. You can find a lot of these in most newer running/training books. Make sure any exercises you do are running specific. As far as breakdown goes, run less in the morning because you will still be very tired from the day before. An example...

a.m. - :30

p.m. - :45

An extra 8 hours or so will make running more volume in the evening a lot easier than doing it in the morning. The morning workout is pretty much just to get your blood flowing, help to speed up recovery, and get in some good stretching afterwards.

26.2 training,

Thank you again....Have some specific questions. Can I contact you by Email ?

Thanks

I think that 7 days work better vs 9-10 days.

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